U.S. Senator Warren urges FTC to stop L3Harris deal to buy Aerojet

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has expressed concern about a broad range of corporate consolidation, wrote to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to urge it to oppose U.S. defense contractor L3Harris Technologies' deal to buy Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc, her office said.

L3Harris had announced the planned acquisition in mid-December, saying it would buy Aerojet for $4.7 billion in cash as it looks to tap into rising demand for missiles amid the Ukraine conflict. It has said that it expects to complete the deal this year.

Warren said the deal was the latest buy in decades of consolidation among defense contractors.

"This deal between Aerojet and L3Harris would reduce competition in the shrinking defense industry to a new low, and I encourage the FTC to oppose this dangerous transaction," she said in the letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan and Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter. All are Democrats.

The letter is dated Thursday.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Mark Porter and Angus MacSwan)